NYC and California sue US postal service over cigarettes

LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The city of New York and the state of California sued the U.S. Postal Service Tuesday to stop tens of thousands of cigarette packages from being mailed from foreign countries to U.S. residents, saying the smugglers are engaging in "cigarette tax evasion" while postal workers look the other way. The lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court blames the Postal Service for deliveries from Vietnam, China, Israel and other countries, saying the failure to enforce a federal law aimed at banning cigarette mail deliveries costs California an average of $19 million annually in tax revenues and New York City and New York State over $21 million each year. The lawsuit seeks a court order to force the Postal Service to intercept and destroy packages belie